Biography

25 December 1939, Marshall, Missouri, USA. James played the piano from the age of four and eventually gained an MA in Composition from the University of Michigan in 1962. He worked as musical director and accompanist with vocalist Sarah Vaughan until 1968. In 1973 Quincy Jones introduced him to Creed Taylor who was forming his CTI Records label. James became his arranger and producer working on albums with Dionne Warwick, Roberta Flack, Eric Gale, Grover Washington Jnr. and Quincy Jones, as well as producing four solo works. In 1976 he moved to CBS Records as Director of Progressive A&R and worked with musicians as diverse as JoAnne Brackeen and Mongo Santamaría. In 1986 James worked with saxophonist David Sanborn on Double Vision. James has also written musical scores for Broadway and for movies including The Selling Of The President and Serpico. The television series Taxi used Angela from 1978s Touchdown as its theme. James...